NARCOLEPSY IS ONE OF the most debilitating sleep disorders - and one that doctors often fail to diagnose. People with untreated narcolepsy suffer chronic sleepiness. No matter how much rest they get at night, narcoleptics struggle the next day against sudden sleep attacks, temporary paralysis and even hallucinations. The episodes can last from a few seconds to more than half an hour.

Experts say that narcolepsy is as common as multiple sclerosis. A quarter of a million Americans have the chronic disorder. Medication can ease many of the symptoms of narcolepsy, but the social and emotional damage is harder to heal.

Researchers are studying new ways to treat narcolepsy. Sleep scientists are also looking at how the condition disrupts the sleep-and-waking machinery in a narcoleptic's brain in order to explain how normal sleep functions in everyone else.

PHOTO: Kris and Eric Johnson of Becker, Minnesota with
their 2-year-old daughter Kallie. Kris is a teacher who has narcolepsy.